It's all in the detail...

Thursday 23 August

We left Campy with Bilbo today to have the work done as agreed. This consisted of having the 80w Solar panel fitted. This had to be stuck on the roof and wired into the electronic charging system. Also, we were having trouble with bed mechanism which needed a small adjustment and finally a small part of the roof lining needed adjustment. Bilbo kindly gave us a loan car for the day. We were hoping for our old Golf which is still in the car park but instead we got a Passat, a lot older but very quick on the acceleration and it felt very low to drive.

First stop was East Grinstead, not as you might think to have a good look around the shops but to use the launderette. By midday we were all clean and looking through the National Trust book for somewhere to go we discovered we were only 1.5 miles from Standen House. We have been to this house twice before and really love it. We both admire Arts & Crafts and Standen is right up there with the best examples. Like yesterday, this is a house you could see yourself living in.

In the pictures are some of the objects that we love about the house and what makes it so special to us.

After a picnic lunch in the grounds we headed back to collect Campy and we were off at about 4pm heading for Knowle, Solihull. The M25 was kind to us and Campy (now running in nicely) clocked up 43 mpg which is leaps and bounds better than the 30 mpg we were getting when we first picked her up. We arrived at the site a nice fishing lake with all facilities called Blythe Water.